Who is this person?

ENFJs weave and strengthen the collective fabric of social conventions and interactions. Inclusiveness is important and they are particularly sensitive to those who are excluded. They focus on others, feeling a glow when those around them are happy, and troubled when something is amiss. They are natural cheerleaders, often expressing support, gratitude, and encouragement, and heaping praise onto those they appreciate. They take note of what is being done and what needs doing, offering their assistance wherever necessary. ENFJs enjoy organising group activities and tend to take their commitments seriously. In general, they are reliable and do not like to disappoint others. As team players and project leaders, they have a gift for rallying their players, focusing on what is being done right and each member's strengths. They are loyal and they expect loyalty. They carry conversations well, finding common ground with their speaker. They tend to find the correct and gracious way to respond in any given situation, no matter how tense or uncomfortable it is.


I am absolutely stunned by these results, not because it doesn't fairly describe me as I am now, but because this is an amazingly different person than Previous Me -- fiercely independent, aloof, unable to empathize, quick to criticize, unskilled at encouragement, anti-team everything. Dear GOD, what happened to me?? 


You.


.

Come and Seek and Find

Have you a sense of want in your soul? Do you hunger 

and

 thirst after righteousness? Then this is an evidence that Christ has wrought upon your heart, 

and

 created this sense of need, in order that He may be sought after to do those things for you through the endowment of His Holy Spirit which it is impossible for you to do for yourself.

The Lord specifies no conditions except that you hunger for His mercy, desiring His counsel, 

and

 long for His love.

“Ask!” The asking makes it manifest that you realize your necessity, 

and

 if you ask in faith, you will receive. The Lord has pledged His word, 

and

 it cannot fail. That you feel 

and

 know that you are a sinner is sufficient argument in asking for His mercy 

and

 compassion. The condition upon which you may come to God is not that you shall be holy, but that you shall ask God to cleanse you from all sin 

and

 purify you from all iniquity. Then why wait longer? Why not take God at His word, 

and

say:

“Here, Lord, I give myself to Thee,

‘Tis all that I can do”?

If Satan comes to cast his shadow between you 

and

 God, accusing you of sin, tempting you to distrust God 

and

 doubt His mercy, say: I cannot allow my weakness to come between me 

and

 God; for He is my strength. My sins, which are many, are laid upon Jesus, my divine Substitute 

and

Sacrifice. 

“Nothing in my hand I bring.

Simply to thy cross I cling.”

No man can look within himself 

and

 find anything in his character that will recommend him to God, or make his acceptance sure. It is only through Jesus, whom the Father gave for the life of the world, that the sinner may find access to God. Jesus alone is our Redeemer, our Advocate 

and

Mediator; in Him is our only hope for pardon, peace, 

and

 righteousness. It is by virtue of the blood of Christ that the sin-stricken soul can be restored to soundness. Christ is the fragrance, the holy incense which makes your petition acceptable to the Father. Then can you not say: 

“Just as I am, without one plea,

But that Thy blood was shed for me, 

And

 that Thou bid’st me come to Thee,

O Lamb of God, I come.”

Coming to Christ does not require severe mental effort 

and

 agony; it is simply accepting the terms of salvation that God has made plain in His Word.

The blessing is free to all.

The invitation is, “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, 

and

 he that hath no money; come ye, buy,

and

 eat; yea, come, buy wine 

and

 milk without money 

and

 without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? 

and

 your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, 

and

 eat ye that which is good, 

and

 let your soul delight itself in fatness” (

Isaiah 55:1, 2

).

[Ellen White, "Come and Seek and Find," 

1 Selected Messages

, 332-333. First appeared as an article in the

Signs of the Times,

 December 19, 1982.]

What God Must Do ?

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.” Mt 16:21

Jesus, the Divine Son,

must

go and

must

suffer and

must

be killed and

must

be raised? What could it possibly mean that God “must” do something? Is He compelled by some other person or force? Not likely, considering His supreme position in the universe. Has He trapped Himself into it by willing it? No, I think there’s a better answer.

. . .

A couple of years ago

Christianity Today

did a series titled “Is Our Gospel Too Small?” That question has been on my mind often lately as I’ve considered this rich and exhaustless science of salvation. I’m afraid that perhaps our good ol’ evangelical pragmatism has duped us into shrinking the Gospel down to one (important) part of the problem and one (very important) part of the solution. It is good and necessary to be able to explain the Gospel simply and there are some helpful tools out there for doing just that, but if we think that three select texts from Romans on a pocket-sized pamphlet does justice to the sin problem or to the Savior solution, then indeed our Gospel is far too small.

The sin problem is bigger than only my personal wrong choices—it is a problem in my nature, it is a social problem too; in fact, it is a complex cosmic problem! And the solution is bigger than the death of Jesus on the cross. To solve the big, complex, personal-social-cosmic problem, God made a big, complex, personal-social-cosmic solution which includes the cross event, but is not limited to it. The solution requires His deity, His incarnation, His perfect life, His resurrection, His inaugeration, His ascension, the sending of His Spirit, the revelation of His will, His intercession, His judgment, the cleansing by His fire, His return—and even more!

Our sharp focus on the cross—to the neglect of the manger and the empty tomb and the heavenly sanctuary and the new earth—has diminshed our appreciation for the whole work of God. It has narrowed our vision to the gift of justification and left us with teeny tiny predestinations and sanctifications and glorifications. What a joy it is to be forgiven! Yet there are more joys beside, joys that are stuffed on every page of every Bible, waiting for some perceptive soul to take them up and enjoy them.

Recently an important insight was forged in my mind about salvation:

Everything that God has done, is doing, and will do is necessary for our salvation

. No piece of the plan is superfluous, no action has been unnecessary, no part is an appendix. I was initially startled to read that Christ “was raised to life for our justification” (Rom. 4:25) because I thought that justification was completely secured on the cross, but I thought wrongly. My justification requires not only the cross but the resurrection, and indeed every aspect of Christ’s ministry. I could no more be saved without His kingly inaugeration than I could without His sacrificial death. Sounds almost heretical, doesn’t it?

But now that I understand God’s salvation economy, I perceive the significance of Matthew 16:21. Who or what makes it necessary that Christ go and suffer and die and live again? By His own free will the Lord has chosen to enact a glorious plan of salvation, and

if we are to be saved

then Christ must go and must suffer and must die and must be raised again. Christ journeyed to Jerusalem because He wanted to save me, and that meant enduring the cross. Christ still wants to save me, and now that means not a cross but the tunic of the High Priest, soon it will mean returning in the clouds, and someday it will mean recreating the heavens and the earth---and all for love of us!

Regarding the struggle of dressing as a professional woman.

“4. Yes, We Knew This: It’s Worse for Women

Most news junkies have probably heard the story of Debrahlee Lorenzana, the Queens woman who sued Citibank last month, alleging she was fired for being “too hot.” Whether or not there’s any validity to the woman’s case, women in the workplace are often faced with a double bind: they are expected to be sexy but can be punished for being too attractive. Sixty-one percent of the hiring managers we surveyed—60 percent of whom were men—said they believe a woman would benefit from wearing clothing that shows off her figure at work. Meanwhile, 47 percent of those same managers said they believe some women are penalized for being too good-looking in the office. As a whole, women are perceived to benefit more from their looks: 39 percent of managers believe that being “very good-looking” is more of an advantage for women than men, while only 16 percent believe the opposite—that it’s more beneficial to men than to women. (Is anybody surprised?)”

— Newsweek

(This quote comes via Newsweek. See also Equality Myth's blog on a recent Forbes article regarding women and flirtation in the workplace.)

So we want to avoid looking frumpy and outdated, or sloppy and unprofessional. Yet we're also expected to look attractive-- but not too much of that kind of attractive. Look good but not too good? *Sigh. And let me just say that as a part of the female clergy, figuring out how to dress is the most complex part of my job. More than once I wished we all wore loose, Middle Eastern robes or nun habits.

Update [24Oct]: Apparently this issue is on the minds of other female clergy, too >>